Indian Child Life Part 4

HOW THE PUEBLO BOYS WERE FRIGHTENED.

Little Indian children, like their white brothers, have to be in bed early or their mothers tell them that the Indian bugaboo, which is a water spirit, will come after them.

Sometimes the PUEBLO children, just like their white brothers, too, think their mothers are only trying to frighten them, when she reminds them of the time and tells them stories of how children are taken away, if they stay up late.

One day some little boys were talking the bugaboo stories over, and they decided to try and see if their mothers were telling them true stories; so, after they had been sent to bed, they were very quiet for awhile, but when their mothers weren't watching, they slipped out.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IT WAS A LOVELY NIGHT.]

It was a lovely night and they thought they would go behind the houses and play awhile. The boys were running along, thinking of how they never again would be afraid of the water spirit, when, they all stopped short.

For a moment they were so frightened, they could scarcely move. What do you think they saw? There, coming out of a doorway, straight ahead of them, was one of those terrible water spirits their mothers had been telling them about. It was coming right after them, shaking a rattle. I tell you those boys ran!

Several very much frightened boys reached their homes, and, after that, they were very glad to go to bed when it was time, for they never again wanted to be chased by another water spirit.

But I will tell you a secret. There are no water spirits; and these small Indian boys were surprised by a PUEBLO man who had seen them steal away from their homes and had decided to frighten them. So he dressed up to look like the Indians' pictures of a terrible water spirit from the Rio Grande river, and ran after the boys.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE OF THOSE TERRIBLE WATER SPIRITS]